The Right to Rest
Have you ever reached a point where you felt so exhausted that you knew your body needed rest, but you didn’t think you could afford to actually do it? Or maybe you’ve injured yourself, and the whole time you’ve been forced to rest up, you’ve been grouchy and mad about it because you know the longer you rest, the more progress you lose in what you were working toward, whether that’s running a certain distance or winning a competitive sport.
I can relate to both of those experiences. Last winter, I somehow managed to throw my back out while putting away Christmas ornaments. The pain was really intense! Even sitting still on the couch was agonizing. I gave my back a day or two of rest by doing nothing but as soon as I tried to pick up my normal pace - guess what? I threw my back out AGAIN! I did that twice before a very close friend told me that I probably needed to block out at least two weeks on the calendar of doing nothing to make sure the injury could really heal.
Two weeks?!? Two weeks?!? That felt like an eternity. I knew I couldn’t keep doing things the way I was though. There was a chance that by not resting, I’d hurt myself even worse than the original injury, and I definitely didn’t want that. The real trouble wasn’t that I was injured. The problem was that I didn’t believe I could rest or that I had the right to. As a mother who worked part time from home, cared for two children, and managed most of the housework, putting my feet up for the better part of a week or two felt like an impossible ask. Who would do the dishes then?
It turned out that both my children and my husband are far more capable than I like to think. They managed just fine. Oh sure, we brought home take out more than usual but that was a coping mechanism I was more than happy to embrace if it meant not re-injuring my back all over again.
The fact is that rest is not a reward for working hard, it’s necessary. We don’t sleep at night because we happened to get a lot done the day before. We sleep because our bodies need sleep, and part of loving ourselves is giving our body what it needs. Rest is the exact same way. We also shouldn’t rest just because we know that a rhythm of rest actually increases productivity (it does!). That simply keeps the value of rest connected to our level of output. Rest is a biological necessity, and we can claim it whenever we feel the need! That’s our human right (Homan, 2021)!
We were all taught different things about rest, and we carry those lessons well into adulthood. Take some time this week to consider whether you believe you have to earn rest or can claim it regardless of what your day has looked like.
Reference: Homan, J. (2021). Rest is a right, not a reward for productivity. Tiny Trips. Retrieved from https://tinytrips.com/articles/rest-and-productivity.
Challenges/Points:
Our culture emphasizes a message that “rest is earned” when really it’s a biological right we all have as humans.
When we let ourselves rest, we show others that they have the power to do the same.
Forcing ourselves to push past rest can have serious consequences for our health and our bodies.
Questions:
What were you taught about rest as a child?
Is rest something you are able to give yourself freely?
When have you pushed yourself when you probably should have rested instead?
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